A few months ago, we reviewed the Razer Blade 14” (2015) which we found to be a great laptop for those that wanted something thin and light but could still be used as a gaming PC. However, one of the big questions that was left unanswered with t…
2015 has been a pretty big year for Apple as a company. Product launches this year included the Apple Watch, the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus, the iPad Mini 4, the iPad Pro, and the new Apple TV. This month is a big month for their software launches, with today marking the release of iOS 9 as well as watchOS 2, and OS X El Capitan launching at the very end of the month. I hope to do some sort of review of the new features in watchOS 2, but today’s article focuses strictly on iOS 9 and everything new that Apple is bringing to their biggest operating system for both users and developers. Read on for the AnandTech review of iOS 9.
The advent of CPUs with low TDPs (but having enough power to handle HTPC duties) has resulted in passive HTPCs becoming more and more popular. There are a number of vendors making a play in this niche such as Streacom, Wesena, Perfect Home Theater and HDPLEX. We even looked into the Streacom FC10 in detail with a passively cooled Ivy Bridge HTPC build. I have also been using the HDPLEX H5.TODD in a passive Haswell HTPC and had a good experience during the build process.
Olivier at FanlessTech brought the news of the unveiling of the second generation H5 chassis to our notice. This looks to be one of the more ambitious passively cooled chassis in the market. The new H5 chassis maintains a sleek look and finish suitable for and has a HTPCs, while also retaining standard AV rack compatibility. The chassis is made of 6063T aluminum alloy and has a powder coated finish. While the body is available in black, the faceplate can be either black or silver. The faceplate itself has a brushed aluminum finish. Internally, the chassis supports a eight-pipe heatsink for the CPU. This configuration can apparently handle CPUs with TDPs of up to 90W. ATX, uATX and mITX boards are all supported.
The specifications of the 2nd generation H5 model are summarized in the table below.
| HDPLEX 2nd Gen. H5 Passive Chassis Specifications | ||
| Motherboard Form Factors | ATX, Micro-ATX and Mini-ITX | |
| Drive Bays | Optical | 1x 5.25″ ODD / hotswap HDD cage |
| Internal | 3x 3.5″, 6x 2.5″ | |
| Cooling | Eight-heatpipe heatsink system for the CPU Optional eight-heatpipe heatsink system for a discrete GPU |
|
| Expansion Slots | 1x full height (single slot) 1x half height single slot(no riser needed) 1x dual slot (for discrete GPU) |
|
| I/O Ports | 2x USB 3.0 2x USB 2.0 1x 3.5mm Speaker Port 12V/5VDC via molex output for external HDD enclosures Rear I/O list is motherboard dependent |
|
| PSU Compatibility | 80W/160W internal AC-DC adapters 160W/250W DC-ATX power supplies 100W/300W linear ATX power supplies with 19V/12V/9V/5VDC outputs SFX form factor ATX power supplies Flex form factor ATX power supplies |
|
| Weight | 7.5 kg / 16 lbs. | |
| Dimensions | Internal 345x370x75mm (L x W x H) External 345x430x80mm (L x W x H) Faceplate 430x80x15mm(L x W x D) |
|
| Price | from $275 | |
One of the interesting aspects is that the faceplate is pivotable, and the ODD/HDD cage can be completely hidden behind it. The main differentiating aspect, in our opinion, is the availability of passive cooling capabilities for discrete GPUs with TDPs up to 60W (such as the NVIDIA GTX 750Ti). This is achieved using a separate eight-pipe heatsink (as shown in the picture below).
More photographs and details are available in this HDPLEX thread.
The advent of CPUs with low TDPs (but having enough power to handle HTPC duties) has resulted in passive HTPCs becoming more and more popular. There are a number of vendors making a play in this niche such as Streacom, Wesena, Perfect Home Theater and HDPLEX. We even looked into the Streacom FC10 in detail with a passively cooled Ivy Bridge HTPC build. I have also been using the HDPLEX H5.TODD in a passive Haswell HTPC and had a good experience during the build process.
Olivier at FanlessTech brought the news of the unveiling of the second generation H5 chassis to our notice. This looks to be one of the more ambitious passively cooled chassis in the market. The new H5 chassis maintains a sleek look and finish suitable for and has a HTPCs, while also retaining standard AV rack compatibility. The chassis is made of 6063T aluminum alloy and has a powder coated finish. While the body is available in black, the faceplate can be either black or silver. The faceplate itself has a brushed aluminum finish. Internally, the chassis supports a eight-pipe heatsink for the CPU. This configuration can apparently handle CPUs with TDPs of up to 90W. ATX, uATX and mITX boards are all supported.
The specifications of the 2nd generation H5 model are summarized in the table below.
| HDPLEX 2nd Gen. H5 Passive Chassis Specifications | ||
| Motherboard Form Factors | ATX, Micro-ATX and Mini-ITX | |
| Drive Bays | Optical | 1x 5.25″ ODD / hotswap HDD cage |
| Internal | 3x 3.5″, 6x 2.5″ | |
| Cooling | Eight-heatpipe heatsink system for the CPU Optional eight-heatpipe heatsink system for a discrete GPU |
|
| Expansion Slots | 1x full height (single slot) 1x half height single slot(no riser needed) 1x dual slot (for discrete GPU) |
|
| I/O Ports | 2x USB 3.0 2x USB 2.0 1x 3.5mm Speaker Port 12V/5VDC via molex output for external HDD enclosures Rear I/O list is motherboard dependent |
|
| PSU Compatibility | 80W/160W internal AC-DC adapters 160W/250W DC-ATX power supplies 100W/300W linear ATX power supplies with 19V/12V/9V/5VDC outputs SFX form factor ATX power supplies Flex form factor ATX power supplies |
|
| Weight | 7.5 kg / 16 lbs. | |
| Dimensions | Internal 345x370x75mm (L x W x H) External 345x430x80mm (L x W x H) Faceplate 430x80x15mm(L x W x D) |
|
| Price | from $275 | |
One of the interesting aspects is that the faceplate is pivotable, and the ODD/HDD cage can be completely hidden behind it. The main differentiating aspect, in our opinion, is the availability of passive cooling capabilities for discrete GPUs with TDPs up to 60W (such as the NVIDIA GTX 750Ti). This is achieved using a separate eight-pipe heatsink (as shown in the picture below).
More photographs and details are available in this HDPLEX thread.
Last month alongside the release of the GeForce GTX 950, NVIDIA also announced that they would be releasing a new suite of updates for GeForce Experience called Shared. The cornerstone of this update would be GameStream Co-Op, a new GameStream feature that used the technology to allow a remote player play a local co-op game via streaming.
At the time NVIDIA announced that Share and GameStream Co-Op would be released in beta form in September, and today they’ve done just that with GeForce Experience 2.6. Curiously, NVIDIA calls this an “early access beta,” where it isn’t clear how this differs from a regular “beta.” But, I suspect, the naming is marketing driven given the success of the Steam Early Access program.
In any case, along with today’s release NVIDIA has also published a few more details about the feature. Co-op game streaming is fixed at 720p30, for which NVIDIA recommends 7Mbps of upload bandwidth. Host games by and large work so long as they’re DX9+ and run in full screen mode, though NVIDIA has a compatibility list up with their findings for major games. Meanwhile on the client side only Google Chrome is currently supported, which is accomplished via a Chrome Plug-In.
Finally, we’ve also been informed that there is a 1 hour time limit on GameStream Co-Op connections. This would appear to be in place to prevent abuse of the system for non co-op purposes, such as using the tech to stream games outright to friends as a means to avoid buying a proper copy of a game.